Daily Times

Supreme Court Judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa Tuesday while hearing a case pertaining to a property dispute in Swat said the decision of ‘Jirga’ in the said case was not greater than the divine religion.

He along with Justice Yahya Afridi heard the case, filed against a decision of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) pertaining to distribution of the property among the legal heirs of the deceased Habibullah.

The heirs hailing from Swat had approached the apex court for equal distribution of their property after a Jirga’s decision to distribute property among them.

During the course of proceedings, Justice Isa said the Islamic law of inheritance regarding the distribution of property among heirs could not be altered by the judiciary or ‘Jirgas’. He said the matter of inheritance was settled 1,400 years ago. The law of inheritance given by the Islam was final and no one, including courts, could change it, he added. He observed that a seven-year-old kid was made witness to the Jirga’s decision and his thumbprint was stamped on the property distribution documents. He said a seven-year-old child could not be hanged in a murder case and such documents made a mockery of the law. The counsel for the petitioner pleaded the court to consider the ground realities of the area while hearing the case.

Upon this Justice Isa responded that the counsel was treating women as the lesser human beings.